My Temple Tour

[Bert Vierstra]

Today we, Dewi, Ayu (yes, the pregnant sister of Dewi) went on a little temple and praying tour in West Bali, amongst others to Pulaki and the Pabean Temple. In total we "did" five, and then we ran out of offers, but we easily could do more.... there are plenty, and they are all busy....

It was a sort of "Thanksgiving and pray for succes thing"...

Here are the pictures:

[brl=http://www.bali-expat-pictures.com/categories.php?cat_id=44:27nl2ze6]West Bali Temple Tour Pictures[/brl:27nl2ze6]

I had my father in law buy a pig today, and there will be Babi Guling tomorrow in our house. Also thanksgiving, this time on my suggestion.

I also bought a new temple for in our garden, but unfortunately the first good day is in november, so just the parts are lying around in the garden now.

Om Santi Santi Santi Om....

-

[Roy]

Bert, I do a lot of these "temple things" with my famiily too, but I've never read what you "think" or "take away" from these experiences.

[JAMIE]

on that note , and i hope im notbeing too pushy are you hinu bert , and that goes for roy to . thanx

[JAMIE]

forgot to mention , nice pics and you wife and her sister are very pretty ....

[Bert Vierstra]

Yes I am a Hindu...

But not to fanatic... I like steak ;)

[Roy]

Bert, Jamie is right, the pics are great! Yes Jamie, I am also a Hindu and our three boys are being raised as such.

[JAMIE]

Guys i cant say that i know that much about being a Hindu , I know this much , being catholic and having one god to pray to is hard enough , being Hindu must make your head spin . Second something 6000 years old must have some deep customs . And from what Ive learned from this board and the cerimonies that you all do in bali , Hidus are very busy . And the practices are very beutiful and humble . You know from where Im setting in the bleachers , you guys got it made !!! With my humblist best wishes ...

[Bert Vierstra]

Well, I sort of start to learn, which color of flower I need to use at what part of the ceremony, and I am very good at saying "Om, Santi, Santi, Santi, Om" at the end ;)

At the other hand, my plan for the temple in my garden has made the Hindu Gods happy, the priest knowing about this was visited by some Goddess the other day, if I remember well Dewi Uma or something, and told the priest she was very happy with the my idea.... :shock:

[Roy]

Jamie, that’s interesting that you are catholic as I am in a good position to draw a comparison between Balinese/Hindu and Roman Catholicism. I was also raised a catholic. I was an altar boy, winner of the Ad Altari Dei award during my Boy Scout years and attended seminary in Hyde Park, New York and Barre, Massachusetts for over four years. I left the seminary because I just couldn’t handle celibacy. It was during my years in the seminary that the church underwent the vast changes brought on by Vatican II. At first it seemed cool having guitars in church, the altar changed so the priest faced the congregation, and the mass spoken in English, but it the end it removed the mystery of the mass.

From a purely spiritual point of view, I personally respond much better to Hinduism as it is practiced here in Bali. I say “as it is practiced here in Bali” as Hindu/Dharma is of course quite different in many respects than Hinduism as practiced in India.

One reason I respond better here is the total lack of “fire and brimstone” or the “you’re going to go to hell” if you do that, or don’t do this. In essence, I find that within Hindu/Dharma, doing the good thing is stressed more as the right thing to do than from fear of the consequences for doing the bad thing. Aside from the famous ceiling murals in the Kertha Gosa, or Hall of Justice in Klungkung, I can’t find any other references to divine punishment of mortals for their sins. Rather, what is stressed is Kharma which fits very nicely into the secular approach of “what goes around comes around.”

Another aspect I prefer is a much greater freedom of choice within Hindu/Dharma to participate in one ceremony or another. Of course, within the banjar adat, there is the responsibility of all to assist in the preparation, and cost, of ceremonies held in the temples within that banjar. This surely does put quite a lot of pressure on many Balinese, but they seem to handle it without complaint or resentment. In Bali, it is almost impossible to distinguish that which is secular and that which is religiously orientated. The two are intertwined and inseparable, like the warp and weft threads of an ikat.

Many westerners are of the opinion that within the Hindu religion a number of Gods are prayed too in a similar manner as the ancient Greeks or Romans. To an extent, this is true, and the similarities of the great Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the Odyssey are unmistakably clear. The difference, as explained to me by various Hindu priests, balions, and holy men is that in the Hindu/Dharma, each of the Gods are considered manifestations of one particular aspect of the one God. This is also the case in Catholicism where God is split into the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Another aspect I really enjoy about Hindu/Dharma is the complete lack of evangelicalism and missionary zeal. No one is preached to in Hindu/Dharma. The extent to which a person wants to consult a priest or holy man of any matters of importance to them, is up to them. There are no sermons at Balinese ceremonies.

When it comes to all of SE Asia, I really appreciate the mix of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam everywhere. Ironic, isn’t it, that the largest Buddhist temple in the world is located in the most Muslim populated country in the world? When visiting Singapore with my wife, she did not feel at home in the old Hindu temple there, but she was right at home at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok which is devoted to Brahma. There she made offerings and prayed with ease. She was equally surprised to see large statues of Siva and Ganesha scattered all about the city. In Bali, the five most major temples all have areas devoted to the Buddha who is considered the ninth incarnation of Wishnu. Personally I find this as fascinating as it is confusing.

Temple ceremonies in Bali are not at all like going to church…no way. They are major community events with lots of activities and things going on. In spite of my vast cultural differences with the Balinese, I also enjoy going to ceremonies and participating to the fullest.

If I can end all of this with a funny story, I know Bert will get a chuckle from this. At my first ceremony, where I was with my balion and allowed to enter the praying area, the inner sanctum if you will, I was invited to participate in the prayers as well. After the praying, each participant is offered holy water, which is sprinkled on their heads as well as consumed three times, it being poured into the palm of your right hand and sipped. I panicked, turned to my balion and asked, “is this bottled water?”
:oops:

[Jimbo]

In all of your answers I never saw the one I was expecting whish is faith or belief. Do you really believe or just follow the ceromony?